Kirk Denies He's Going Right With Palin Request

- By Warner Todd Huston

Mark Kirk is denying that he's trying to angle rightward in the run up to the GOP primary next year with his recent reaching out to Governor Sarah Palin to secure her endorsement for his candidacy.

"I think I am who I am. I am a social moderate, fiscal conservative. But this is a big race and we are building a broad coalition and it will be, for a Republican candidacy, a center-right coalition, but for me, I haven't changed my views."

This is, of course, rather interesting. Kirk is reaching out to conservatives by courting one of their idols in Sarah Palin, yet is also claiming he hasn't changed his views. It makes one wonder just why a conservative would want to vote for him if he isn't even interested in paying lipservice to their causes?

In essence, Kirk is saying vote for me... and I'll ignore all you stand for. After all Kirk's record is more often center left than center right.

Kirk is rated poorly by the National Right to Life Committee and nearly 100% by abortion supporters. The NRA has awarded him a grade of "D." The American Conservative Union rates him at 40% for 2007 and 48% for 2008. On jobs the CATO Institute gives him an even 50%, saying his record is mixed. And in one of his stronger areas -- on taxes -- Kirk is rated only at 58% by the National Taxpayers Union. As you can see, these hot button, conservative issues put him mostly in the center left category, not center right.

So, it is amusing that Kirk is claiming to be seeking the vote of that "center right coalition" yet also says he won't change his positions in order to attract their support!

Who exactly is Kirk trying to kid? He'd elicit more respect for himself if he just said that he'll support the center right position a little less than half the time but that any Democrat won't even be that weighted to the right. Let's be honest here. Mark Kirk is a center left candidate, not a center right one.

But, for sure his Democrat opponent is a left/far left candidate. Kirk will be on the side of conservatives more so than the Democrat, but he is positively no center right guy. It's just that simple.

In the end, there really is no reason at all for Sarah Palin to endorse Mark Kirk before the primary. Maybe, to be a good party member, she'll endorse him after the primaries (assuming he can defeat conservative Patrick Hughes) when there is no conservative choice. But before the primary there is no reason at all for a conservative minded person to support Mark Kirk.

-WTH

Mark Kirk's Yo Yo Campaign (Plus Did He Ask for Palin's Support or Not?)

- By Warner Todd Huston

Only a few months ago, Representative Mark Kirk voted for Cap and Tax… er, I mean Cap and Trade. Conservatives and Republicans in general lit into Kirk with a vengeance. Then he started running for the Senate and at a subsequent September 5 campaign stop he reversed himself and decided he wouldn't support Cap and Trade.

Kirk is not a strong pro-life supporter, he is bad on the Second Amendment, Kirk is only middling on free trade, and he has drifted back and forth,  sometimes supporting Obama's left-wing, big spending agenda in Washington... though he is sometimes good on national defense. In all, Kirk is not quite as bad as N.Y. 23's Dede Scozzafava, but he is no Illinois Doug Hoffman, if you want a current analogy.

Now comes a November 4 report by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza that Kirk sent a memo to Fred Malek attempting to get Governor Sarah Palin's endorsement for his (Kirk's) Senate run. Cillizza claims that this Kirk request shows Palin's power and Kirk's worries for his campaign.

Kirk's memo is tangible evidence of the power of Palin's endorsement in a Republican primary. Kirk, a moderate by voting record in the House, is clearly very concerned about the negative impact a Palin endorsement of one of his primary opponents could have on his chances at being the party's nominee for the seat being vacated by appointed Sen. Roland Burris (D).

However, it is obvious by actually reading the memo that Cillizza is taking liberties with his claim that Kirk pleaded for Palin's support. The truth is that Kirk was far more cagey with his memo.

Memorandum

November 3, 2009

To: Fred Malek

From: Mark Kirk

Re: Gov. Palin Visit to Chicago November 16th

Governor Palin is scheduled to appear on Oprah November 16th in Chicago. The Chicago media will focus on one key issue: does Gov. Palin oppose Congressman Mark Kirk’s bid to take the Obama Senate seat for the Republicans?

We would hope Gov. Palin could say something quick and decisive:

Voters in Illinois have a key opportunity to take Barack Obama’s senate seat. Congressman Kirk is the lead candidate to do that. Kirk, the first member of Congress to deploy into combat since 1942, voted against the Stimulus, Omnibus and Pelosi health care bills. He announced he will oppose Cap & Trade and is the key House national security hawk on Iran. Kirk is a unique Republican candidate who has become the number one pro-Israel fundraiser in America, Republican or Democrat.

As Rich Miller notes, the memo concludes with some talking points on Kirk's record.

Kirk's memo is a bit more cagey than an outright request for an endorsement. It is a bit more like a "challenge" to Palin to support Kirk as opposed to a n outright request. Still, it does, indeed, show that Kirk was angling for Palin's endorsement despite that Miller thinks it isn't. But I agree with Miller's conclusion that Kirk cannot seem to decide what he "is." I've noted Kirk's flip flopping in the past myself, but if you look at his record you see him often splitting his vote between left and right, so his yo yoing has been evident in his record since day one. We are only now seeing it in the glaring lights of the campaign trail.

In the end, I am not sure if you can say that Kirk has a consistently one sided philosophy. He seems to just drift wildly from one side to the other -- granted his course seems steered on the center left more often than his spikes to the right or far left. The guy is just all over the map. That's all there is to it.

Below, Kirk's Cap and Trade flip flop (about three minutes into the video):

- WTH

Hughes: Kirk "desperate" for Palin's endorsement

Patrick Hughes is a conservative primary opponent of Mark Kirk in the primary battle on the Republican side in the race for Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat next year. Hughes released a statement after Kirk's appeal to Fred Malek, a friend of Sarah Palin, for her endorsement:

"I believe Mark Kirk, who has consistently supported President Obama's legislative agenda, including cap and trade legislation, is quickly realizing that Republican Primary voters do not share his extreme views. In a desperate attempt to prove otherwise, he is seeking the endorsement of Sarah Palin, a true Reagan conservative, to help disguise his liberal voting record," remarked Hughes.

Hughes, a Chicago-area businessman, is chairman of Sensible Taxpayers Opposed to Increased Taxes, or STOP-IT. The PAC was organized, according to the group's Web site, "to oppose Governor Patrick Quinn’s proposals to increase corporate and individual tax rates by 50%."

h/t: Illinois Review

- JP

In Illinois, Mark Kirk Asks For Palin's Endorsement

Chris Cillizza, on the Washington Post blog The Fix:

Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk penned a memo to Republican poobah Fred Malek hoping to secure an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his Senate candidacy, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Fix.

After noting that Palin will be in Chicago later this month to appear on "Oprah", Kirk writes that "the Chicago media will focus on one key issue: Does Gov[ernor] Palin oppose Congressman Mark Kirk's bid to take the Obama Senate seat for the Republicans?"

Kirk goes on to write that he is hoping for something "quick and decisive" from Palin about the race, perhaps to the effect of: "Voters in Illinois have a key opportunity to take Barack Obama's Senate seat. Congressman Kirk is the lead candidate to do that."

Malek confirmed the authenticity of the memo in an e-mail exchange with the Fix

Update: Commentary from Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. As for our own opinion, we think Sarah would indeed have to have a lot of forgiveness in her heart to endorse a Vichy Republican like Kirk who didn't think that she was the right choice to be John McCain's running mate. 

Beg, Kirk, beg. Now lie down. Roll over, boy. Now sit. Sit, Kirk, sit. Good dog! Someone give him a bone... 

- JP